U.S. JGOFS  Synthesis & Modeling Project

The Role of Oceanic Processes in the Global Carbon Cycle

Program Announcement

NSF 00-103

Below is a brief summary of the NSF Program Announcement for the U.S. JGOFS Synthesis & Modeling Project, with a highlighting of Major Research Trajectories of the SMP.  Investigators wishing to submit proposals should refer to the official Program Announcement.

DEADLINE: September 13, 2000
Organization Limit: None
PI Eligibility Limit: None
Limit on Number of Proposals: None
Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 7 - 10
Anticipated Funding Amount: $3M
 

Major SMP Research Trajectories

Realizing the research goals of the SMP and, more generally, the fundamental objectives of U.S.JGOFS will require the coordinated efforts of a wide variety of investigators, both modelers and observationalists. The organization of principal investigators and proposals by teams and the continual interaction of teams with one another will be vital to the success of the SMP.

As the U.S. JGOFS Synthesis and Modeling Project nears completion, the foci for the program are being refined to highlight emerging new scientific directions as well as remaining unresolved elements of the original implementation plan. To address the overall objectives of the project, a major emphasis for this funding round will be on the global-scale ocean carbon cycle. Synthesis and modeling efforts that integrate across individual data sets, processes, and geographic regimes and that effectively combine field data sets and regional- to global-scale models are encouraged.

Careful attention must be devoted to completing the main SMP objectives within the limited amount of time and resources remaining.  In particular, the SMP strives to encapsulate the improved understanding gained from the JGOFS field programs into a series of validated regional and global ocean carbon cycle models.The SMP PIs and Working Groups have identified several community model development and data-based evaluation activities along this line including food web synthesis/modeling, regional 1-D model test-beds, and global coupled ecosystem/biogeochemistry modeling.  Experience shows that these integrative, community efforts will not be accomplished without explicit multi-investigator funding and are crucial for the overall JGOFS synthesis of the ocean carbon cycle.  Highest priority, therefore, should be given to such system level synthesis/modeling projects.  The following topics have also been identified as areas of importance:

  1. Development, evaluation and incorporation of mechanistically based, biological models for global carbon cycle simulations.
  2. Data based evaluation of coupled global physical/biogeochemical models.
  3. Response of ocean biogeochemistry to past and future climate change
  4. Spatial and temporal extrapolation of biogeochemical flux estimates (e.g. export production) from local to basin and global scales.
  5. Synthesis and modeling studies of the Arabian Sea, Southern Ocean, North Atlantic, ocean margins (with respect to role in basin to global-scale carbon cycle), and the set of U.S. and international time-series stations data.
  6. Primary production, new production, export production and elemental composition (both particulate and dissolved).
  7. Biogeochemical effects of trace metal cycling.
  8. Controls and distributions of calcium carbonate and silicate production, transport and remineralization.
  9. Mechanisms and rates of mid to deep water particle flux and remineralization as well as sediment diagenesis.
  10. Applications of remote sensing data to the ocean carbon cycle.